Mages of the Shadows
by Happy Camper27
Summary: When Harry was seven, the Dursleys dumped him in Hong Kong, China. A couple years later, he stole an Egyptian artifact-an artifact known as the Millennium Scales. Now that he's fourteen and one of the best Duelists in China, he's been invited to Duel Kingdom by Maximillion J. Pegasus. What will happen with another Millennium Item added into the mix?
1. Chapter 1

**Ohayo, Minna-san! Look, I know SotV should have been out two months back, but I've actually gotten over my Shikamaru Block and started on the next chapter! So, be prepared for, at the very least, a double update. If I can, I'll write out three chapters to make up for the wait! Anyway, here's a taster chapter for a plot-bunny that I couldn't put in my plot-bunny depository—its way, way, way to original as far as I know! **

In a dark, dimly lit shop, a golden scale that looked vaguely Egyptian in origin with the Eye of Anubis on the top of it sat on a table, gleaming slightly in the dark room. A shadow flickered at the edge of vision; brilliant green eyes the color of emeralds seeming to glow in the darkness. A delicate, tanned hand reached out of the shadows, and grasped the scale. "Got'cha," a faintly musical voice muttered, the hand retreating back into the shadows.

Suddenly dizzy, the figure snuck silently out of the shop, planning on selling the artifact as soon as it could. However, pain struck as soon as the figure was out of the shop, leaving the figure to stumble into an alleyway not too far away from the shop. The figure groaned, pulling off the thin cloth balaclava that concealed its face with a shaking hand and looked down at the scale in its hand. The pain in the figure's head doubled sharply, and with a gasp, the figure's brilliant green eyes closed.

When they next opened, they were the dark, ruby red of fresh blood.

Several years had passed for the young figure that had stolen the scales from the shop—several years of discovery, learning, and most importantly, dueling. The figure, a child once known as 'Harry Potter', but now known simply as Wúmíng—Nameless—had, in the years that passed since he had stolen the scales (which he had come to learn were called the Millennium Scales, or the _Sennen Bakari_ in Japanese) picked up the game of 'Duel Monsters' at his _Xi__ū_'s insistence.

His _Xi__ū_ was a being that had been sealed in the Millennium Scales that he had stolen, that had been awakened when he had laid hands upon the Scales. Apparently his soul had been ripped in half, like all of the others (aside from the Rod—he seemed to really dislike this 'Priest' character) who had participated in a ritual to seal the 'Shadow Realm' away, and sealed away in the Scales to await the day that the other half of his soul was reincarnated and found him once again.

Wúmíng could only see the good in this; ever since his former guardians, the Dursleys, had abandoned him in Hong Kong on a business trip when he was seven, he had been living on the streets until the authorities found him when he was nine—a year after he had found the Scales—and dropped him off in an orphanage called _Yánggu__ā__ng__ g__ū__'ér yuàn,_ or Sunny Orphanage.

Besides, now he had his _Xi__ū_beside him. His _Xi__ū_ had barely any memory of his name, and so Wúmíng had taken to simply calling him _Xi__ū_, seeing as according to the explanation he was given, _Xi__ū_was the dark half of his soul. However, what he did know is that the dark half was meant to _protect_ the light half.

Wúmíng was reading a book that had been assigned at the school he attended, _G__ā__ozh__ō__ng xuéxí dì dìf__ā__ng_, when the matron in charge of the orphanage tapped lightly on the door to his room. "Wúmíng? Could you come here, please?"

Wúmíng rose, curiosity bubbling up within him. "Yes, Laoshi?" he answered, opening the door. "This package was dropped off for you, Wúmíng," the matron, Lin Jiang, handed him a large cardboard box. "Xièxiè nǐ, Laoshi," he said. "Bùyòng xiè, Wúmíng," Lin replied, turning away. Wúmíng sat on the edge of his bed, closing the door behind him, and opened the package.

Inside were two _Duel Monsters_ cards—one was blank and one with a red glove in the foreground and coins in the background—and a letter. Wúmíng opened the letter, and read it out loud.

"_Dear Wúmíng-san, _

_I, Maximillion J. Pegasus, hereby officially invite you to Industrial Illusion's new Duel Monsters tournament, Duelist Kingdom. With this invitation, you will find enclosed two Duel Monsters cards—Glory of the King's Right Hand and Glory of the King's Left Hand. You will need to present these in order to be able to participate and, if you make it to the finals, receive the award money of five million American dollars. The registration for the tournament is at the docks in Domino City, Japan._

_Maximillion J. Pegasus_

It was in Japanese, and Wúmíng had a little difficulty reading it, due to the fact that he only knew a little bit of the language. He grumbled under his breath, and _Xi__ū_ spoke up. _/You do realize that we'll have to go, right?/_ Wúmíng scowled_. __/Yes, I know, Xi__ū__.__ The problem comes from the fact that we'll have to go to Domino City, Japan./_ _Xi__ū _grumbled inside their mind. _/I forgot about that,/_ Wúmíng rolled his vibrant green eyes. _/I figured, Xi__ū__./_

Wúmíng rolled his eyes as he felt, more than heard, _Xi__ū_ pout. His darkness was more childish than people would think, seeing as he was the other half of Wúmíng's soul—the part that held what he didn't. Wúmíng pulled the Scales out from his canvas bag that he kept with him at all times. He gently ran a finger along the glinting gold surface, tracing the Eye contemplatively.

Then he brightened slightly. _/We still have the prize money from the Nationals that we placed in last month, don't we Xi__ū__?/_ He felt _Xi__ū _perk up. _/Yeah, we do, Gu__ān__g!/_ _Xi__ū_ replied, brightening happily. Wúmíng sighed.

"I guess we're going to Domino," he sighed irritably. "You do realize that I'll have to arrange to miss school for while we're there, right?" his only reply was a cheerful hum from_ Xi__ū__._ "Tāmādè," he muttered, straightening his green mandarin jacket. He groaned irritably, flopping backwards onto the bed.

**/End.\**

**Translations:**

**Wúmíng—nameless**

_**Xi**__**ū**_**—shade, protection, darkness, guard, shadow, shield**

_**Yánggu**__**ā**__**ng**__** g**__**ū**__**'ér yuàn**_**—Sunny Orphanage**

_**G**__**ā**__**ozh**__**ō**__**ng xuéxí dì dìf**__**ā**__**ng**_**—Learning Place High School**

**Laoshi-Chinese for 'Matron'; recommended by kuricre, who was kind enough to give somethings to correct~**

**Lin—means "forest" in Mandarin**

**Jiang—means "river" in Chinese**

**Xièxiè n****ǐ****—"thank you," in Chinese**

**Bùyòng xiè—"You're welcome," in Chinese**

**Liàng—bright, light**

**Tāmādè-more of a Cantonese cuss word, meaning oh crap/shit/damnit, etc. Recommended by kuricre~ **

**Edited 11/3/13**

**R & R, s'il vous plait!**

**~Boldog Lakókocsi27**

**(Now it's (hopefully correct) Hungarian! ^^) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Ohayo, Minna-san! I've gotten a fairly good reception for prologue, so I'm starting another chapter! Also, a little tidbit you should know:**

**I don't actually play the Yu-Gi-Oh card game. I don't have any cards, and I only know the barest basics of the game (the types of cards and a little bit of the levels of cards) and a lot of what people say about 'spellcaster decks' kind of go over my head. Can anybody explain this? I understand a themed deck, 'cause I play the Pokémon card game a little bit. But can anyone give me examples of cards to put in a deck and of strategies? My real knowledge of Yu-Gi-Oh is of the plotline of the anime and the mythology of the Items. I'm just fascinated with the idea of the Items, the Shadow Realm, etc. I'll definitely look stuff up to try and get things better, but it'll probably be horrible without help from you guys. Sorry if this offends you guys!**

**Also, to Magician Girl Mirani:**

**Yes, his appearance is quite different. He's got longer hair, for one, and his skin isn't extremely pale like it seems to be in canon. He also wears contacts, not round glasses. And his age, as stated last chapter, is fourteen. As for pairings…I'm not really sure. I have a tendency to like YY x Y, YM x M, an (Yami Yugi x Yugi, Yami Mariku x Malik, and Bakura x Ryou), so if there are going to be pairings those will probably be included. Otherwise, *shrugs* I'm not all that sure. My skills with romance are somewhat limited, seeing as I've only written romance once before. As for his deck…well, look above. And the HP characters? Yes. They will **_**eventually**_** come into the fic. And for the relation of ****Xi****ū**** to the Pharaoh? I haven't quite figured that out yet.**

**Thanks for the review!**

**Also, here is a warning before the chapter starts:**

**I enjoy using other languages a lot. You'll find translations down at the bottom for the simple stuff, translations at the end of the paragraph for long sentences. Translations will be in the order that they are said.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Yu-Gi-Oh; I just own Xi****ū and pretty much anything you _don't_ recognize._  
_**

Chapter 1

Wúmíng looked around, mentally attempting to translate the writing for the signs that would direct him to where he could grab his suitcase that held his clothes for this trip. He groused under his breath, and Xiū chuckled at him. All of the writing in the airport was in Japanese, and he could barely read it. _/There, Gu__ān__g./_ Xiū said, and Wúmíng snorted before pulling away and into his soul room. _/Here, you take control. You're better at Rìb__ě__nyu anyway./_

Xiū chuckled under his breath as brilliantly green eyes shifted to dark red, and normally pitch black hair gained some dark bluish highlights. _/You're cranky today, Gu__ān__g./_ he observed, and he received a grumble from his light half. _/I'm not cranky! I'm just…/_ his light half's voice trailed off into a yawn. _/Qùshuìbà,__ Gu__ā__ng. You need it./_

_/Okay… Good night__, Xi__ū__…/_ Xiū shook his head fondly as he picked up their luggage. Wúmíng could be so stubborn at times. After he picked up his luggage, he looked around, wondering what to do next. Opting to wander around a little bit, seeing as the check-in for the hotel they had arranged to stay at until Duelist Kingdom began didn't begin until eleven AM.

Eventually, after exchanging some of the gangbì they had brought along into yen, he stepped outside and managed to hail a taxi. "_U~inzohoteru shima de onegai,"_ he stated, closing the taxi door. The taxi driver nodded, and within forty-five minutes, they were at the hotel. "Tāmādè! Never again! Ever!" Xiū exclaimed, staring as the taxi pulled away. A sleepy mutter broke through his shock. _/Huh…? Fāshēn le shéNmè shì__, Xi__ū__…?/_ Xiū gently shushed his light half, assuring him that everything was alright as he entered the hotel. _/Méishénme, Gu__ā__ng. Go back to sleep./ _ ("Isle of the Winds Hotel, please,", "What's going on, _Xi__ū_...?")

Wúmíng settled again, trusting his dark half. As he stood in line, Xiū pulled out the invitation and inspected it, looking for some sort of date and/or time that he was supposed to be at the Domino Docks. Sure enough, it stated on the back of the invitation; Rokugatsu 5th, Shōgo.

Once he had checked in and gotten to their room, Xiū prodded Wúmíng awake. _/Time to wake up, Gu__ā__ng__./_ Wúmíng stirred, waking up slowly. _/Where are we?/ _Xiū rolled his eyes good humoredly as he flopped onto the bed and retreated into their shared mind so that he stood in front of the door to Wúmíng's soul room. "The hotel, Guāng. Where else?" the plain, Western style door opened to reveal a tired looking Wúmíng with bed-head. Wúmíng shook his head and let his dark half in, shaking his head at the cheerful bounce in his step.

"You're way too cheerful, Xiū," he grumbled. Xiū laughed and hugged him from behind, resting his head (he was, unfortunately, taller than Wúmíng, something that the nameless boy cursed) on top on Wúmíng's. The boy frowned, but shifted so that he leaned backwards into his dark's chest. Xiū knew better than to call him on it; last time he did, he wasn't allowed into Wúmíng's soul room for a month.

The room itself was relatively simple; it had a great deal of sky and air associated things in it, representing Wúmíng's love of being in the air in general, and the bed was a simple affair of a Japanese Futon with the covers being a burnished golden color. The floor was made of pale, highly polished hardwood planks, with several filled bookcases made of the same material. There were only a few pictures that hung on the wall, all of them were of Xiū—being the only one that Wúmíng truly cared about past being an acquaintance—except for one; it was of a boy with black hair and nearly onyx eyes—the stereotypical Asian appearance of a sort—with a cheeky grin on his face. The boy had been the first person to find Wúmíng after his former guardians dumped him in Hong Kong. He had even given Wúmíng his name and taught the boy Chinese!

That was before he had gotten caught up in a drug exchange late one night in an alleyway and had been found before he could get away—he had been found the next morning with two bullet wounds to the chest; both had hit his heart.

Wúmíng still hadn't truly gotten over the loss of the boy.

Xiū was pulled out of his reverie by a sharp poke to his side. "Huh?" Wúmíng sighed and leant back into Xiū's chest again.

"I said, are you alright?" Xiū nodded, breathing in his light's warm scent of cinnamon and nutmeg. Wúmíng rolled his eyes, long since used to his dark's peculiar habit. Despite being uncomfortable with other people touching him, Wúmíng had never found himself uncomfortable with Xiū's touch. Rather, it was always strangely comforting to the boy.

"Fine, Guāng. Just thinking," without thinking, Xiū leaned against the nearest wall, sinking slowly to a sitting position. "Oh?" Wúmíng inquired, curling up between Xiū's bent knees, still leaning back against his dark half's chest.

"Mmhmm," Xiū grunted, his red eyes slowly closing. Wúmíng shifted comfortably against Xiū as he too began to fall under the sweet spell of sleep, mumbling one phrase as he did so:

"Zhè nàgè hǎo…"

The two woke up somewhere around supper time, and would not have even woken up were it not for their complaining bellies. "Mā de, I'm hungry," Xiū complained, reluctantly letting Wúmíng stand up and dust off his green mandarin jacket and yellow pants. Wúmíng rolled his eyes, smiling lightly at his slightly childish dark half.

"Of course you are, we haven't eaten since morning!"

Wúmíng stepped easily out of his soul room, leaving Xiū to return to his. He took control of their currently slumbering body, waking for the second time in ten minutes. "_That_ is disorienting." He mumbled, standing slowly. He rummaged through the drawers in the room, eventually finding a little promo that listed all of the restaurants that were away from the casino area.

_/Number 12 sounds good, Gu__ā__ng./_ Xiū stated hopefully, and Wúmíng noted that the restaurant was a Vietnamese restaurant. _Ăn__ u__ố__ng t__ố__t n__ơ__i_, it stated on the promo, and Wúmíng had almost no idea what the thing said except that it had the word _t__ố__t_ in it, meaning 'good'. He shrugged. Hopefully they would know a little bit of Chinese—he spoke Japanese with semi-fluency (with a lot of hesitation), but was still more comfortable with Chinese—or at least had some translations of the menu into hànzi. He sucked at _reading_ Japanese, no matter how well he could speak it.

_/I could always take care of it,/_ Xiū volunteered, but Wúmíng shook his head. _/No thanks, I'll take care of it. I need to start learning how to read it properly anyway,/_ he could practically feel Xiū shrug. _/If you say so, Gu__ā__ng./_ Wúmíng let a delicate little smirk fall onto his face as, in a rare moment of spoken sassiness, he retorted, _/I do say so_, _Xi__ū__,/_

There was a slightly stunned silence before Xiū cheered brightly. _/Yes! You have finally retorted!/_ Wúmíng sighed exasperatedly as he made sure that his own Duel Monsters deck was firmly attached to his belt and that Xiū's was in his canvas bag along with the Scales. _/You,/_ he began firmly,_ /are incorrigible./_

He could feel Xiū's impish smirk. _/Of course I am, Gu__ā__ng!/_ he slung the bag up over his shoulders so that the strap rested diagonally on his chest, from his right shoulder to his left hip. He quickly re-combed his hair, tying it back in a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck. Before he left the room completely however, he placed the 'Do not disturb' sign on the handle. Gods knew that he truly didn't want some unwitting staff personnel to wander in…!

When Wúmíng reached the restaurant and began to get ready to order, Xiū stirred. _/__ Guā__ng. Take a look around you—what do you see?/_ Wúmíng frowned as he picked out what seemed to be a seafood and eggdrop soup. He looked around as he waited for the server to come and take his order. He noted that there were a couple familiar faces—people that he had faced off against in the Chinese Nationals…

Realization struck him. Looking around more closely, he realized that most of the people in the restaurant were Duelists. There were several from China, but there were also those who looked as though they were from Europe or other far off places. There was even an albino with a mane of spiky white hair who certainly didn't look Asian in appearance!

Xiū tensed in his mind as he eyes flicked over the albino. _/What is it?/_ Wúmíng asked, feeling his dark half's unease. _/I can sense the Shadows around him. They cling to him, almost like they do to you and me./_ Wúmíng shifted. _/Be careful, around him. If I'm right, then every Duelist in this room is here for Duelist Kingdom—which means we'll eventually run into each other./_ Wúmíng nodded mentally, his mouth suddenly dry.

He had never been a very good fighter—he was just too gentle-hearted to hurt someone permanently like Xiū was perfectly able and willing to do. His talents lay with healing, with treating someone for any harm come to them. Not hurting people. Xiū gently nudged his consciousness with his own, attempting to comfort his light half. _/It'll be alright__, Gu__ā__ng. I won't let any harm come to you./_ Wúmíng couldn't help but smile as he ordered his food.

_/Xièxiè, __Xi__ū__./_

** /End.\**

** So, this chapter was mostly a filler chapter to illustrate some of Wúmíng and Xi****ū****'s differences; however, it's the beginning of the segue into the Yu-Gi-Oh anime as well. **

** Translations:**

**Rìb****ě****nyu—The Chinese word for Japanese (language).**

**Qùshuìbà—Sleep in Chinese**

**Gangb****ì**—The term for Chinese currency in general

** U~inzohoteru shima de onegai—Isle of the Winds Hotel, please (Can anyone guess the reference here?)**

** Wa kào!—"Holy crap!" in Chinese**

**Méishénme—"Nothing" in Chinese**

**Rokugatsu 5****th****, Sh****ō****go—basically means June Fifth, Noon in Japanese**

** Zhè n****á**gè h**ǎ****o…—"That's good…" in Chinese**

** M****ā**** de,—"Damn," in Chinese**

**Ăn**** u****ố****ng t****ố****t n****ơ****i—literally means "Good Eating Place" in Vietnamese (I'm not very creative with names for places...)**

** Hànzi—Chinese writing characters**

**All of this is pulled off of Google—so please let me know if there's anything wrong with what I put up!**

_**Edited 11/3/13**_

**Ja ne, Minna-san!**

**~Happy Camper27**


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